By Scott Wyman
Staff writer
Posted January 24 2006

Nurses, teachers, waiters, cashiers beware. Broward County's housing crisis is so bad that only someone making almost $100,000 a year can afford the median home now on the market.

And the problem is likely going to get worse. About 90,000 homes must be built during the next six years to keep pace with the area's job growth.

The preliminary findings of a comprehensive study of affordable housing in Broward show the problem to be more dire than expected. Until now, little was known on how much more affordable housing is needed or how wide the gap is between what's on the market and what most can afford.

"I don't know how anybody in their 20s and 30s can afford housing here right now," said County Commissioner Suzanne Gunzburger said after hearing the findings Monday. "They would have to be making six figures. That's just not realistic."

The root of the problem is that the median price -- the point at which half the homes on the market are priced higher and half are priced lower -- of an existing single-family home is almost $400,000, while the median income among the largest job sectors of the local economy is $26,000. That encompasses people who work in retail stores, hotels, restaurants, health care and administrative support.

According to the study by Ned Murray of Florida International University's Metropolitan Center, the gap between what a prospective homebuyer can afford and what is available is about $92,000. It's the most extreme in Fort Lauderdale, where the median sales price is $452,000 but the average worker can afford to spend only $172,000.

Murray said that while other areas have grappled with rapidly escalating real estate prices, what makes Broward's situation bad is the low incomes of most workers. Only 15 percent of the work force earn the $98,000 necessary to pay the mortgage, taxes and insurance owed on the median home for sale.

"The gap between jobs and affordable housing is so extreme that the ripples will continue across the economy for some time and could affect job growth if nothing is done," Murray said. "What really has happened in the housing market is so explosive, we are just beginning to see those ripples."

The Broward Housing Partnership, a coalition of developers, bankers and large employers, sought the study and expects to receive a final report later this month. Although Murray presented his findings at the first meeting of the County Commission's affordable housing task force, the Housing Partnership refused to provide the public and media with a printed version until the report is finalized.

To tackle the problem, county officials are looking at everything from increasing subsidies for affordable housing projects to imposing zoning requirements that any housing development include some units affordable to the average worker.

Murray's study showed that housing prices have jumped 65 percent in two years and that now almost a third of area families are spending more than they should for housing expenses.

Financial planners recommend no more than a third of a household's income be devoted to those costs.

Murray analyzed the extent of the housing crisis for a variety of professions as well as different sections of the county.

Nurses in Broward, for example, earn a median of $50,000 a year and thus could afford a $193,000 home, leaving a gap of $198,000 based on current sales prices. Elementary school teachers have a median salary of $40,000 and could afford a $149,000 home, meaning a $242,000 shortfall.

And while the problem is worst in Fort Lauderdale, other communities also have wide differences between pay and housing prices. The study found the gap in Miramar to be $170,000 and in Hollywood to be $109,000.

Based on projections that 135,000 new jobs will be created by 2012, the report concluded that the county needs 90,000 additional homes. Of those, 51,000 will be needed for people earning less than $42,000 a year.

Scott Wyman can be reached at swyman@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4511.